Student Formula Racecar Team Fine-tunes Racing Performance with TIBCO Spotfire
Blog: The Tibco Blog
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Think the Mercedes-Petronas AMG Formula One team is the only Formula-style racing team TIBCO supports? Think again! Engineering students at Charusat University in Gujarat, India, have been participating in the design, fabrication, building, and competition of formula-style racecars for more than 10 years. And for the past two, the students have relied on TIBCO to help improve their performance. The students use several TIBCO solutions, including TIBCO Spotfire visual analytics, in their quest to be the top Formula Student racing team in India.
Founded in 2011, Ojaswat Motorsports is a Formula Student Race Team comprised of 30 members. The team participates in Formula Student Events, including Formula Bharat, Supra SAE India, and FMAE FFS India.
During the height of the pandemic, the team found itself with extra time to focus on the planning stages of the season, so they decided to look into data analysis solutions. The team noted that TIBCO was at the forefront of the industry, reached out, and formed a partnership. Through TIBCO’s Academic Alliance, the students acquired complimentary licenses and got to work.
TIBCO Spotfire Visualizations Lead to Immediate Improvements
First, the students visited the TIBCO Spotfire Enablement Hub to learn how to best use TIBCO Spotfire solutions for their applications. Taking what they learned, the Ojaswat team looked at the previous season’s statistics and created data visualizations to help them view areas of improvement.
One big area Ojaswat focuses on is driver performance. By looking at the gears used in driving different parts of the track, the team can better understand which gear to drive in for maximum performance. In reviewing the raw data and creating predictions around gear usage, the team has seen a 50 percent increase in driver performance.
Some other measurements include looking at the brakes, corner speed, and analyzing the roll, which is how heavy the car is with respect to the car’s inertia—the aim is to minimize the movement of the “roll.”
In its most recent competition, Formula Bharat Virtuals 2022: Rev It!, Ojaswat placed fifth in car design finals, second in the Drag Race, which measures acceleration, and sixth overall out of 32 teams, both from India and abroad.
The team is pleased with the improvements it has seen since partnering with TIBCO, and it is confident that it will continue to see successes as it heads into its next racing season.
“TIBCO has helped us get the best out of our data, which helps us get the best out of our car. We are aiming for the podium in the Formula Bharat event in January 2023. Our major focus is on the track, especially the acceleration event. Analyzing the data we’ve gathered will help us get there,” explained Aryan Vaghela, COO at Ojaswat Motorsport.
“All team members better understand how data analysis and visualizations improve outcomes. Improving our skill sets will also help us in our future endeavors,” added Jimit Desai, former CTO and team alumnus.
Future Success Like Formula One
Ojaswat is currently working on building out its 8th model car, and the team is in the manufacturing and testing phases at this point. Ojaswat recently created an analysis report with 40 different car setups. In doing so, the team could see which setup would most likely win in specific scenarios.
Not only have TIBCO solutions helped Ojaswat Motorsports improve performance and land on the podium a time or two, but it also helps save time and money for the team. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team uses TIBCO Spotfire’s cost visualization tool to stay within budget against growing FIA regulations and cost caps. From professional to student racing, TIBCO Spotfire analytics helps teams stay on track.
Racing Alongside TIBCO’s Academic Alliance
Next up off the track—the team members plan to get TIBCO certified. TIBCO offers the opportunity for its academic customers to obtain lesson plans and get certified in TIBCO Spotfire and various other products for free, unlocking future career growth.
Whether racing to the final or helping students model oil rigs, TIBCO’s Academic Alliance is blazing a trail. According to Meena Krishnan, global director for TIBCO’s Academic Alliance Program, “With over 1000 students and educators signing up for free TIBCO Spotfire licenses around the globe just this first half of 2022, TIBCO’s academic program is playing a big role in classrooms, research labs, and for capstone projects—enhancing student experiences in data science, data analytics, and data visualization.”
Join the TIBCO Academic Alliance program to use cutting-edge technology in your classrooms, courses, and academic research centers. To follow the team’s success with TIBCO Spotfire in real time, visit their Instagram page.
“Be it in engineering disciplines, accounting, finance, and many more departments, TIBCO Spotfire is a versatile tool for basic and advanced data analytics. Look out as we expand further and offer more opportunities for students and educators alike,” Krishnan concludes.
The post Student Formula Racecar Team Fine-tunes Racing Performance with TIBCO Spotfire first appeared on The TIBCO Blog.
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